A cold breeze slowly struck the face of a little girl, who walked wrapped in her woolen scarf, with her other hand holding the hem of her coat, trying to shelter her small feet within it, while the wind tousled her blonde curls. Despite the weather, she walked confidently in a direction known only to her. Most likely, other people were already searching for her, but that didn't matter now—her goal was close. Every time she looked that way, she saw only a small pillar of darkness. As she already knew, no one except her and her mother could see it, for it was not merely black, but the color of a forgotten essence that everyone had forgotten and did not wish to remember. Its length stretching into the sky was like a silent cry for help. In general, much amazed her in this wondrous world—various colors that other children, and even adults, for some reason could not see; strange weavings in the sky, like a guiding map; and many different symbols, mostly hovering near old houses, which did not resemble the language the girl was learning. Already, she was treated as strange, but her mother always told her, in secret, that she too saw these strange flickerings, though she did not understand them at all, so she spoke of them to no one. These words were enough for the girl to understand—it was all real, but different. And when she discerned this pillar of shadow, she immediately headed towards it.

  It was quite far away, and the little girl even feared she might not reach it at all, for she had not eaten for several days. But her firm conviction that something lay beyond that shadow pillar gave her an almost inhuman strength, though it was more likely sheer stubbornness.

  But then, after several hours, she reached her goal—a small wooden house, shrouded in snow and a strange black haze. The house was in terrible condition, as the girl could note—part of the roof had collapsed, the boards were rotten, the window panes were shattered. Yet despite all this, the door of the house retained something strange and astonishing—it did not look worn by time, as if it had been placed there only yesterday, which did not fit the overall appearance of the house at all.

  Even at this moment, the child's confidence did not waver. She took a few steps towards the door, grasped the handle, and opened the passage into the house. To her surprise, beyond this door she discovered only impenetrable darkness. She blinked several times to check that this was indeed what she was seeing, and then, gathering her courage, took a confident step inside, and the darkness of the house swallowed her.

  The darkness was so thick that the girl could feel it with her hands, as if it were completely tangible. But even so, nothing was visible through it, until a quiet, tired voice whispered in her ear:

  "What are you doing here, child?"

  The girl tried to turn around but realized she had no orientation in this murky space. The only thing she felt now was that she was standing firmly on her feet, not falling into some abyss.

  "I came to the pillar of shadow that rose into the sky," the child answered honestly, not understanding where to direct her words.

  "That is strange, child. We have been trapped here for so long that no one remembers our names anymore, not even ourselves," the voice replied just as quietly. It was impossible to tell whether it belonged to a woman or a man.

  "Why are you trapped?" the child asked naively, apparently addressing the darkness surrounding her.

  "We no longer remember, child. It was so long ago that we are dissolving here. First we forgot our names. Then our faces. Now we are forgetting what it means to exist, merely continuing to fade under this burden of being," the voice answered, just as melancholically.

  "Then, perhaps you will come with me?" the girl suddenly asked. In response, she heard only many quiet chuckles, which seemed to sound from everywhere.

  "Child, if we could, we would have left here long ago. But there is no exit here, only an entrance. Now you can only eke out your miserable existence along with us. In all the years we have been here, though memories are erased, we have outlines of creatures coming here. But there is not one who has left this place," said the voice. But now the chuckles were filled with despair and sadness of the approaching end. Though judging by the voice's words, even an end was not for them; they were doomed to be forever in this non-existence, gradually blurring and fading into the infinite darkness.

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  The child merely closed her eyes, saying nothing in response to the strange voice. Although nothing had changed, the girl understood that at least she had squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the pressure of her eyelids on her eyes. Then she concentrated on the sensations she had experienced recently: the breath of wind that coldly burned her cheeks, the snow that lined her path, all those simple things, yet so important at this young age. She opened her eyes and looked around in this infinite darkness that filled this nowhere, and then she saw a beam of white light, just as she had previously seen a beam of darkness. She smiled, pleased with herself. Then she spoke, addressing the darkness:

  "Well, I'll be going now. I know where the exit is."

  But there was no answer, only the quiet chuckles of lost voices. The girl merely shrugged her small shoulders and moved towards this beam of light, confidently, knowing exactly that the exit awaited her there. But almost immediately, she felt the darkness seem to envelop her hand.

  "I want to go with you," said an equally quiet, but male voice, which seemed not yet to have completely lost its "I" in this strange place.

  The girl merely nodded and walked forward. But now each step was harder for her because of the darkness weighing on her arm. Yet she was confident in her actions, and despite all the pain and the desire to stop, she continued moving towards the beam of light. At some point, it nearly blinded her. As she blinked from the searing light and the tears that welled up in her eyes, the darkness surrounding her disappeared. Now she stood inside the dilapidated hut, and behind her she heard the voices of people she knew, apparently searching for her. She turned around and noticed five shapeless creatures, in which only the outlines of humans could be discerned. They held each other's semblance of hands, and the closest one, who was near the child, also held her hand.

  "Thank you for coming with me. I'm not so scared now," the girl smiled her bright smile. The creatures seemed to glance at each other but said nothing.

  "Thank you," rasped only the one who held her hand.

  "Can you become more human?" the girl inquired, looking at the formless shadows.

  "What do you mean, child?" asked the one nearest to her.

  "Well, so that you resemble people," the child said confidently.

  The shadows glanced at each other, then one of them, further away, spoke in a female voice:

  "But we already look like people."

  The girl was about to respond when the hut door opened and a tall, fair-haired man in a military uniform, slightly aged, entered.

  "So there you are, you little rascal!" he said, and then his gaze fell upon the figures crowding in the depths of the hut behind his daughter—five people dressed in some rags, probably bandits who had kidnapped his precious little girl. With fury on his face, he drew his sword from its sheath. "Ah, you damned kidnappers, so this is where my daughter has gone!"

  But suddenly, for everyone's surprise, the girl rushed forward, embracing what was apparently her father.

  "Papa, they're not bad!" she cried, stunning her father.

  "What are you saying, my child?" the girl's father apparently wondered.

  "They saved me, Father!" said the child, patting her father's chest with her small hands. He uncertainly lowered his sword hand, looking bewilderedly at the figures before him.

  "Thank you," the man merely replied, bowing slightly to the shadows. "I don't know how to thank you. Can you at least tell me your names?"

  "I..." the nearest shadow began to speak, but the nimble girl immediately approached him and took his formless hand.

  "His name is Gabriel, Father! The others haven't introduced themselves to me," the girl smiled, showing all her childish teeth.

  "Thank you, Gabriel. You have done an incredible deed, not only for the country but for me as a father," the child's father again thanked the main shadow. The shadows exchanged bewildered glances but merely nodded at the man's words. "Let's go back; why freeze in this dilapidated house?"

  And the girl's father stepped out, beginning to give some orders to the people around. The girl herself surveyed the house and no longer noticed any pillar of shadow reaching into the skies.

  "Who... or what are you, child?" whispered a shadow, and in its voice, for the first time in eternity, there sounded not despair, but a chilling horror at the one capable of finding a way out even from here.

  The girl merely raised her gaze to the five formless shadows and proudly declared:

  "My name is Vanessa Crow!"